Winding machine



Sept. 15, 1942.

E. J..ABBOTT J WINDING MACHINE iled'larch -9, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 E J ABBOTT WINDING momma Filed March '9. 1940 4 Sheet s-Sheet 2' II I Ill/Ill Sept. 15, 1942.

I Sept. 15, 1942. E. J. ABBOTT 2,295,535

' Y wnmm MACHINE I 7 Filed March 9, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 .irzajerziar Patented Sept. 15, 1942 2,295,535 wmnmo MACHINE Edward J. Abbott, Wilton, N. n, assignor to Abbott Machine Company, Wilton, N. H., a corporation of New Hampshire Application March 9, 1940, Serial No. 323,203

23' Claims. (o 242-37) This invention relates to winding machines and has for its principal objects to control the stopping and starting'oi the machine in a more eflicient manner, to provide improved mechanism for automatically bringing the winding package and the traversing device into and out of cooperative relation at the starting and stopping of winding respectively, to control more efiectively and accurately the position of the winding package with relation to the traversing yarn guide during growth of the winding package, and to control and regulate in a simple and of the rotating package, although features of the invention are applicable to winding machines of other types.

Other objects of invention and features of'advantage and utility will be apparent from this specification and its drawings wherein the invention is explained by way of example.

. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a winding machine according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a left elevation partly in section of the unit of Fig. 1; I

Fig, 3 is a rightelevation of the unit of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on the line 4-6 of Fig. 3 showing the cylinder and piston of motor mechanism for controlling the position of the winding package relatively to the traversing device; and r Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view on the line 5--5 of Fig. 3 showing the nozzle and plunger which control the motor mechanism of. Fig. 4.

The machine may have any suitable frame of which an upright plate-like portion is indicated at H in the drawings, this'upright porvice is accomplished by movement of the package holder in the illustrated machine, although in certain aspects of the invention thetnecessary relative movement could be secured by movement of the traversing device. I

The winding spindle l2, which is a preferred form of means for holding and rotating the winding. package, is rotatably mounted in ball bearings IS in a hub l4 carried at the upper end of an arm l5 that is'pivotally mounted at l6 on the plate it. The arm indicated generally by the reference character It preferably consists of an upper portion l5 fitted into and detachably secured to a lower portion l5 by a clamp l8 so that by loosening the clamp it the upper portion '15 and the spindle may be set at any desired angle to the lower portion I5 Thus in addition to winding cylindrical packages, cones of any desired taper may be wound. The winding package core is, which is illustrated as bare as at the beginning of winding, is driven by the spindle by any suitable connection such for example as projections i25 which extend from the spindle into notches in the end of the core. The traversing mechanism in its preferred form includes a small-diametercrossed-groove traverse cam 2t rotatably mounted in a casing 2i of which one end may consist of the plate ii. The traverse cam shaft 22 (Fig. 3) extends through an opening in the plate ii and carries outside of the plate a 'suitablebelt pulley 23.

Any suitable form of traverse cam slider 25 may be employed to run in the groove of the traverse cam and reciprocate the traversing yarn guide 21 which extends out of the casing 2i through a narrow slot.

A preferred form of driving means for both the spindle l2 and the traverse cam 2tincludes an individual electric motor 39. The motor shaft carries a pulley 3i, and there is attached to the spindle l2 a cup-shaped pulley 33, the pulleys 3i and 33; being in alignment with the pulley 23 on the head of the cam shaft. As best shown in Fig. l, the belt 35 runs around the pulleys 3i,

333 and 23, driving these at constant angular velocity determined by the speed of the motor 30. The motor to'is heldby a bracket 3? (Fig. 1) whichis pivotally mounted at 38 on the plate. I I so that the weight of the motor tends to tighten the belt and moreover tends to draw the spindle pulley 33 over to the right in Fig. 1 toward the traverse cam pulley 23. The belt 36 thus sets up a restoring force tending at all times to urge the winding package toward the traversing means. Preferably further mechanism is provided to act in opposition to this restoring force to control the positions of the package during its growth and during the starting and stopping of winding. In this connection, in some aspects of the invention, the restoring force instead of depending on the .action of the belt, may be secured by mounting the package-holding means in such manner that gravity or aspring exerts the desired restoring force.

Provision is made for causing the windin spindle l2 to move away from the reciprocating traverse eye 27 against the restoring action of the belt and in accordance with the amount of yarn wound on the winding package, so as to keep the surface of the winding package either in very light contact with the traversing yarn guide or at a definite distance therefrom, preferably only slightly out of contact. In this connection the downward pullof the motor on the belt 36 is relied upon to oppose the movement oi the Winding spindle away from the yarn guide and is also useful in restoring the spindle automatically to starting position near the yarn guide when winding is begun on a. new bare core or upon an unfinished package following an interruption to the winding.

The mechanism for moving the winding spindle away from the traversing yarn guide at a controlled rate preferably'is actuated from a secondary source of power, such as a motor, and preferably this secondary source of power is a variable-force fluid motor, such as will now be described. Thus as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, there is provided a cylinder 40 fitted with a piston 4| which latter is connected by a connecting rod 42 with the spindle-carrying arm 15. For actuating the piston 4| to shift the arm R5 to the left in Fig. 1, there is provided an oil conduit 44 leading from an oil pump, not shown, and discharging through a needle valve 45 into the cylinder 40 and in the rear of the piston. The effective force of the piston as urged to the left by the oil pressure is sufiicient to move the arm l5 to the left in opposition to the restoring force set up by the belt 36. To-control the operation of the piston 4|, the cylinder 40 is provided at its right end with a leak passage 49 communicating through a tube 50 and a drilled hole 5| (Fig. 3) in the casing 2| with a nozzle 52 (Fig. 5) adapted to discharge into the interior of the casing 2|. The nozzle 52 is adapted to be closed by the end of a plunger 53 when the plunger is pushed to the right, as described below. In the.

absence of a force pushing the plunger to the right, the pressure of oil within the nozzle 52 pushes the plunger to the left, thus opening the nozzle. In this manner the valve composed of the nozzle 52 and plunger 53 controls the oil pressure in the rear of the piston 4| and when open allows enough leakage of oil from behind the piston 4| so that the oil pressure working on the piston is not suflicient to counterbalance the restoring force set up by the belt. On the other hand, when the nozzle 52 is sufiiciently closed, the oil pressure builds up behind the piston 4| sufliciently to move the piston and the spindle arm |'5.-

A feeler or package-position detector in the form of a U-shaped wire 55 fastened at its ends in a rod 55 that is pivotally mounted at 55 is located in position to contact with the surface of the winding package close to the path oi the traversing yarn guide 2'! and is provided with an extension 51 (Fig. 2) adapted to contact with the end of the plunger 53. The horizontal portion.

of the feeler wire 55 thus rides in contact with the surface of the winding package. By a suitable adjustment of the nozzle 52 or plunger 53 and of the needle valve 45, this mechanism can be so adjusted that when the package clears the ath of travel of the traverse eye 21 precisely by a predetermined amount, the nozzle 52 will be open sufficiently to prevent the-piston 4| from moving the arm I5 any further to the left. Then further winding on the package and consequent the casing 2| and these serves to lubricate the traverse cam and its associated slider. An oil discharge return line 59 having its entrance located somewhat above the bottom of the casin 2| serves to return excess oil to the pump previousl mentioned.

The winding yarn Y, coming from any suitable supply bobbin below the winding unit, runs upwardly as indicated through a guide 50, hence between tension disks 5| and 62 and a further guide 53 which if desired may be a slub catcher and hence over a pivoted wire yarn detector 65 to the traversing yarn guide 21. The detector wire 65 which is shown as U-shaped is fastened at its bottom ends to a horizontal rod 57 which is pivotally supported at 68, 58 at its two ends; thus the detector wire 65 tends to swing outwardly or to the right (Fig. 1) upon failure of the yarn such as breakage or exhaustion.

A mercury switch 10 mounted on the rod 61 is normally in a closed position when the yarn detector wire 55 is upright as in Fig. 1, but becomes tilted to an open position when the detector swings outwardly upon breakage or exhaustion of the yarn. This mercury switch is connected by wires and T2 with the electric motor and the source of electric power so as to be in circuit with the motor, thus stopping the motor when the detector wire swings outwardly.

The operator can readily start the motor and begin the winding operation by raising the yarn detector wire 65 to its upright position as in Fig. 1 and holding it there until the machine is winding normally.

Upon breakage or exhaustion of the yarn, the

motor thus stops. Preferably there is also provision for automatically shifting the package and spindle to their extreme left hand position or away from the yarn guide so as to facilitate finding the end of yarn on the package or changing the bobbin if necessary. For this purpose, the yarn detector wire 55 is interconnected with the package position-detector or feeler wire 55 by a loose linkage consisting of 5. depending extension 14 on the detector rod 51, a depending extension on the rod 55 of the package position-detector, and a connecting wire 11. The connecting wire 11 extends loosely through holes in the extensions I4 and I5 and is held in place by two enlargements-17 and 11 fast thereon, these enlargements being near enough together so that the detector wire 65 and extension 74 have some freedom of movement before extension piston 41 and spindle arm It to move quickly tothe left.

Thus upon failure of the winding yarn, the

' yarn detector 55 overrides the affect of the package position-detector i5, and causes the fluid motor to effect a quick and full separation of the package and traversing device.

Upon repairing the break or exhaustion and changing the bobbin if necessary, the operator manually restores the yarn detector wire 65 to its upright position as in Fig. 1. The linkage l1, 75 is thus no longer forced to the left by the detector wire and the feeler wire 55 is free to swing outwardly to the left, disengage the plunger 53 and thus allow the oil pressure behind piston 4| to drop. 'I'he'restoring force set up by th belt 36 then draws the winding spindle and package to the right into winding position, but relatively slowly due to the cushioning effect of the piston 4| caused by the necessity for leak-age of oil out through the nozzle 52 in order to permit such movement. When the winding package has been thus restored to winding position and the yarn has been put under the tension of winding, the operator can then the tension on the yarn at the various stages of winding. For this purpose the detector wire '65 is preferably caused to operate also as a detector of the tension in the winding yarn and 7 through suitable linkage to regulate the tension applied by the disks 0! and 82. Referring to' Figs. 1 and 3 a horizontal extension 80 onthe rod '61 carries a lifter link 8| which is attached to the outer endof an arm 8! of a bell crank 82, 83 of which the arm 83 bears against the movable tension disk 62, the bell crank being pivoted at 84.

As the arm I2 is lifted by the rod It, the other arm 83 moves away from the plane of passage of the yarn, thus relieving the tension. This effect occurs when the detector wire is in its.

uppermost position as shown in Fig. 1 and to a lesser extent as the wire 65 moves outwardly or to the right in Fig. 1. Thus when for any reason such for example as a relatively slow winding speed at the beginning of winding, the yarn;

tension between the disks SI, 62 and the winding package would otherwise be too small, the slack tension in the yarn allows the detector wire to swing outwardly, thus allowing the bell crank 82, 83 to turn in a counterclockwise di-v rection in Fig. 3 and apply more pressure to the disk 62. Then as the winding speed increases and the tension in the yarn accordingly tends to increase, the detector wire and associated linkage act to relieve correspondingly the amount of tension applied by the disks GI, 62 with the re sult of maintaining a substantially constant tension under all conditions.

I claim:

1. A winding machine having therein a winding package holder and a yam traversing device, motor means for controlling the relative positions of the package holder and traversing device with respect to each other in a direction transverse of the length of the winding package as the winding package grows in diameter and a detector responsive to the position of the surface of the winding package, said detector controlling said motor means.

2. A winding machine having therein a winding package holder and a yarn traversing device, means including a fluid motor for controlling the relative positions of the package holder and traversing device with respect to each other in a direction transverse of the length of the winding package as the winding package grows in diameter, a valve adapted to control the fluid motor, and a detector responsive to the position of the surface of the winding package, said detector controlling said valve.

A winding machine having therein a wind ing package holder and a yarn traversing device, means including a fluid motor for controlling the relative positions of the package holder and traversing device, a valve adapted to control the fluid motor, and a detector responsive to failure of the winding yarn, said detector controlling said valve.

4. A winding machine having therein a winding package holder and a yarn traversing device, motor means for controlling the relative positions of the package holder and traversing device, a detector responsive to the position of the surface of the winding package, and a de-'- tector responsive to failure of the unwinding yarn, both of said detectors being adapted to control the motor.

5. A winding machine having therein a winding package holder and a. yarn traversing device, motor means for controlling the relative positions of the package holder and traversing device, means for causing the motor to separate the package holder and traversing device pro- .gressively as the winding package grows while maintaining the surface of the package in proximity to the traversing device, and means for causing the motor to effect a full separation of the package and traversing device upon failure of the winding yarn.

6. A winding machine having therein a winding package holder and a yarn traversing device, motor means for controlling the relative positions of the package holder and traversing device, means for causing the motor to separate the package holder and traversing device progressively as the winding package grows, while maintaining the surface of the package in proximity to the traversing device, and means operative upon failure of the winding yarn to cause the motor to effect a full separation of the package and traversing device and operable manually to cause the motor to effect a restoration of the surface of the package into-proximity to the traversing device. Y

, '7. A winding yarn having package holder and a yarn-traversing device, motor means for controlling, the relative positions of the package holder and traversing device, a detector controlling the motor and responsive to the position of the surface of the therein a winding windingpackage, a yarn detector responsive to failure of the winding yam, and means connect ing the yarn detector and the motor in. such manner that, upon detectionof failure of the winding yarn, the yarn detector overrides the 'iiect of the first-name'ddetector and causes the to failure of the winding yarn, said detector controlling said variable-force motor.

v 15. A winding machine having therein a winding package holder and a yarntraversing device, and motor means efl'ective upon stopping of winding to retain the winding package holder motor to effect a full separation of the package traversing device and a package-rotating means mounted for movement toward and away from the traversing device, a driving means, and a belt connecting the driving means with the packagerotating means and traversing device,-and urging the package-rotating means toward the traversing device.

10. A winding machine having therein a yarntraversing device including a yarn guiding element movable back and forth along the winding package and a package-rotating means mounted for movement toward and away from the path of the yarn guiding element of the, traversing device, a driving means, and a'belt connecting the driving means with the package-rotating means, and urging the package-rotating means toward the path of the yarn guiding element of the traversing device.

11.-A winding machine having therein'a yarntraversing device and a package-rotating means, there being relative movement between the package-rotating means and the traversing device, a driving means. a belt connecting the driving .means'with the package-rotating means and the and the traversing device farther separated than during usual winding, the machine including manually operable control means for causing the motor means to become ineifective in thus retaining such farther separatedrelation, thereby to permit relative approach of the package holder and traversing device.

16. A winding machine having therein a wind-- ing package holder and a yarn traversing device, a yarn detector, a motor means effective. upon detection of yarn failure by said detector, to retain the winding package holder and the traversing device farther separated than during usual winding, the machine including manually operable control means for causing the motor means to become inefiective in thus retaining such farther separated relation, thereby to permit relative approach of the package holder and traversing device.

17. A winding machine havingtherein a winding package holder and a yarn-traversing device, means including a fluid motor for efiecting separation of the winding package holder and the traversing device, a valve controlling the motor, a yarn detector; and aconnection between the yarn detector and the valve, whereby'movement of the detector resulting from failure of the yarn .supply permits the motor toeiiect separation of the package holder and traversing device farther than in normal winding and movement or the detector in the opposite direction causes the motor to permit relative approach of the package holder and traversing device.

18. A winding machine having therein means for rotating a winding package at approximately traversing device,'and urging the package-rotating means and traversing device one toward the other, and a variable-force motor arranged to' urge the package-rotating means and traversing device apart in opposition to the force of. the belt.

12. A winding machine having therein a yamtraversing means and a windingpackage-rotating means, means for mounting one of said. means for movement away from the other of said means against a restoring force tending to urge said means together, and a variable-force motor adapted to move said means apart in opposition to said restoring force.

13. A winding machine having therein a yamtraversing means and a winding package-rotating means, means for mounting one of said means for movement away from the other of said means against a restoring force tending to urge said means together, a variable-force motor adapted to move said means apart in opposition to said restoring force and 'a detector responsive to the position of the surface of the winding package, said detector controlling said variableforoe motor.

14. A winding machine having therein a yamtraver'sing means and a winding package-rotating means, means for mounting one of said I urge said means together, a variable-force motor adapted to move said means apart in opposition to said restoring force and a detector responsive a constant angular velocity and hence with progressively increasing winding speed as the package grows, a tension device arranged to act frictionally on the yarn approaching the winding package, said tension device being adjustable as to its tensioning efiect on the yarn, a yarn detector acted on by the yarn between the tension device and the winding package, and responsive to the tension in said yarn, and a connection between the detector and the tension device whereby increase in the tension of the yarn at the detector adjusts the tension device to have less tensioning effect.

19, A winding machine having therein means for rotating a winding package at approximately a constant angular velocity and hence with progressively increasing winding, speed as the package grows, a tension device adjustable asto its tensioning effect on the yarn, winding stop means including a yarn detector controlling the 7 stop means and acted on by the yarn between the tension device and the winding package, said detector being movable in response to the tension in said yarn, and a connection between the detector and the tension device whereby increase in the tension of the yam atthe detector I .2,295,ua5 ment in the direction to separate the package holder and traversing device and permitting only a slower return movement.

21. A winding machine having therein a winding package holder, a yarn-traversing device, and means including a fluid motor for separating the package holder and traversing device upon failure of the winding yarn, said motor being actuated by fluid under pressure, a leak passage normally rendering the motor inefiective to cause relative separating movement of the package holder and the traversing device, and means for controlling the flow through the leak passage and hence the action of the motor, the leak passage serving to cushion return movement of the hind motor.

22. A winding machine having therein a windlng package holder and a yarn traversing element, a detector responsive to the position of the surface of the package, power driven means for 23. A winding machine having therein a winding package holder and a yarn traversing element ,-a detector responsive to the position ot-the surface of the package, means including a fluid motor for shifting the relative positions of the package holder and traversing device, means for supplying actuating fluid to the motor, and means whereby the detector controls said fluid motor in accordance with the growth of yarn on the surface of the package.

EDWARD J. ABBOTT.

w G ERTIFICATE'OF CORIjEC'I'ION. I

Patent Nd. 2,295,535. v 'Septe mber 15, 1914.2.

' EnwARvJ; ABBOTT;

It is hereby certified that-ei'rbr apg aear 'a in the printed specification of the above numbered "patent lz qliiring corrgqtibn as follow spfage 3, second dolmnn,' line 70; claim]; for the wordfi'yan fi' read -mach1ne-'; and

that the said Lette rs Patent shouid be read filth this corre cti n threin that the same idy confpm tq th-record-of the eds in the Pgtent Office;

Signed m a aled this 15th dgv or. Qc-tober', A. *1). 191m.-

k VanfArsdale, 7 (Seal) t Acting Cbmmisqibner of Patents. 

